Gaining Residency for Instate Tuition Purposes

Hey I was just wondering if anyone in this community has gone through this process and if so how did it go?

I've been curious as to how hard it is, because I've been off of school for more than a year now and have not been claimed as a dependent, been working a full-time job, paying for my own place, have severed all ties with my previous state, given my first twenty children to angelina jolie out of the goodness of my heart, travelled all over the state, have been here since 2004, know more about this city than some people who lived here for years longer, been actively involved throughout my education.. etc.

So basically, I've known the overly excessive rules for years (been to the website for residency too many times), but now I've taken all the steps, will they actually let me become a resident, because I actually like living here and don't want to go back to my state in which I was forced to grow up.

The one thing I'm worried about is that although I was not claimed this year as a dependent, they say it is the current calender year and prior calender year, what do they mean by current and prior in terms of months and how does that line up with taxes turned in?

Lastly, anyone else find these rules a little fucked up? Because if I have to take off two years from school, I feel that's horribly detrimental to my education, especially if this is all about taxes, because there is no state income tax so I pay all the same shit as anyone else and have been for three years.